Pretending
by MagicInTheMusic
Summary: This is a long road, maybe they'll travel it together... and maybe not.


Set: Four years later. Finn joined the army and is now stationed in Iraq. Rachel is in her senior year at Nyada when she receives a call from Kurt. Rachel is not dating anyone.

Rachel was heading back to her apartment when her cellphone started ringing. She clicked the little answer button on the pink background-ed screen, "Hey Kurt! You'll never guess-."

Kurt quickly cut her off with more important news, _"Rachel! It's Finn.." _He was starting to get choked up.

"Wait. What about Finn? Kurt!" She was getting agitated with him.

She heard him take a deep breath, _"Rachel.. Finn's been shot. They flew him to France after getting him stabilized… H-He's in a coma. Has been since about a week ago…. Rachel.. Rachel, he won't wake up." _He couldn't continue.

Turning the key in the lock, Rachel walked inside the shoe-box apartment and then crashed onto the bed, "Oh god," she whispered. Running a hand through her long, brown hair, she sighed, "I have to go see him."

"_Are you sure, Rachel?"_

"Yeah, I'm on break for the next six weeks. I'll get a plane ticket and be there tomorrow afternoon. Where are you?"

"_Outside the hospital. I flew in a few days ago and thought today that you might want to know…. God Rachel, I don't know what to do." _They hung up after talking for a few more minutes and then Rachel booked a flight that left in three hours.

She packed for two weeks, thinking that she may want to spend a little time in Paris if Finn didn't…. refusing to finish that sentence, she went to her blue car and then drove to the huge airport.

Kurt paced outside of Finn's room for the twelfth time that day. "Kurt," he heard his name and turned to see his father and Finn's mother coming back from the cafeteria, "let's go home, bud, we'll come back in the morning to see if anything has changed." He nodded and left with them.

Kurt met Rachel at the airport around one, she had a black suitcase in tow and looked worn out from the long flight. Of course, when Kurt offered to see Finn the next day, she denied. They drove to the hospital together, barely uttering a word except simple pleasantries. Rachel noticed that Kurt's outfit looked rumpled and his hair a bit disheveled; further evidence of how bad things were.

At the hospital, Kurt talked familiarly with a nurse at the front desk for a moment before leading Rachel down the winding hallways. They stopped before a room and Kurt turned to face Rachel. He took a deep breath, "Okay, he's in there. There's a tube in his….throat that's helping him breathe and other tubes and wires monitoring him. Hi-His right leg was….broken in three places. He's really….pale." Kurt shook his head, "Just….see for yourself," he gestured to the door and then sat on the hard floor and leaned against the white walls.

Rachel walked with false confidence into the room and was able to avoiding looking at Finn until she was almost directly next to him. She hugged herself when she saw how horrible it was. The tube that Kurt had told her about protruded from his slack mouth and his right leg had a cast from his toe to the top of his thigh. Bruises lined part of his body and his hair looked as if he hadn't bathed in a week or two, which he probably hadn't. They had told her that he was shot on the side of the building and fell off of it. Her breath caught in her throat and a tear fell down her cheek before she pushed it away. Rachel had heard stories of people being able to hear others in a coma, so, she started to talk.

"Hi Finn, it's Rachel. I…. I don't really know what I'm doing here. I….," she sighed and took his hand in both of hers. She took a deep breath and began to sing, "Face to face….and heart to heart. We're so close, yet so far apart." A sob choked out of her throat, but she continued. "I close my eye, I looked away…. That's just because, I'm not okay. B-but…I-I," the tears were flowing freely down her face. Rachel sat down in a chair by the bed and put her hand in her hands, "But I can't hold on. Finn," deep breath, "Finn, please, please don't leave me alone again." She stayed for only a few more minutes before leaving for her hotel.

Rachel didn't go back to the hospital for two days, she just couldn't. Watching him lay there unmoving was torture. On her third day of being there she, of course, went back. A doctor was just coming out of the Finn's room so she waved him over.

She smiled, "Hi. I'm Dr. Rosewell. Are you looking for an update on Major Hudson?" Rachel nodded. "Well, his vitals are good, the wound stitches are still clean. We took the ventilator out earlier today when he woke-,"

"Wait," Rachel cut her off, "he's awake?"

Dr. Rosewell nodded, "On heavy painkillers and he can barely talk, but yes, he's awake. You can go in if you'd like." Rachel thanked her and then opened the door slowly to Finn's room.

His eyes were open, sort of, and the ventilator was out of his mouth like she'd said. She walked over to the side of the bed and put a hand on the edge of it. "Hi," she whispered. Finn didn't say anything, but she watched as he slowly dragged a heavy hand across the blue hospital sheets and came to rest his fingers on top of her hand. Rachel smiled sadly and with her other hand she put it to the side of his cheek.

"Hi," Finn said weakly and then grimaced.

Rachel shook her head, "Shh," she chastised, "don't talk. Just….just close your eyes." He tried to squeeze her hand tighter, but he just couldn't, it made tears come back to her eyes. She squeezed his hand tighter to make up for it, "I'm right here, Finn, I'm not gonna leave. Just close your eyes, I'll see you when you wake up." Bending down, she kissed his forehead as his eyes slowly closed.


End file.
